The Department of Conservation and Recreation plans to immediately close some 25 miles of unpermitted trails that were carved into the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest.
The state Department of Conservation and Recreation plans to immediately close some 25 miles of unpermitted trails that were carved into the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, and has initiated a comprehensive, five-year restoration plan after citing the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation for the unauthorized clearing last summer.
Announced during a lengthy public information session hosted by DCR staff Thursday night, the mitigation plan caps a nearly year-long investigation and review process by DCR into the trail clearing. It also marked the first detailed accounting of the sweeping extent and impact of the clearing that took place in priority forest habitat.
Map showing approved state forest trails.
Map showing approved state forest trails.
According to state wildlife experts with DCR and new maps showing the unpermitted trails, the trails snake through nearly every corner of the 5,000-acre state forest, disturbing at least 32 acres of rare species habitat, in conflict with DCR’s mission to maintain the natural, biological diversity of the state forest.
Eric Seaborn, a forester with DCR who presented the plan in an online session Thursday, called the trail creation “inappropriate,” particularly considering the state forest’s reserve designation. He said the trail clearing sidestepped DCR’s extensive, multi-step permitting process for new trail creation that normally involves the Environmental Protection Agency, local stakeholders and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“This expanded system of trails causes additional stress to rare species . . . so we take this very seriously. This fragments the forest in a way that we would not have preferred. And it conflicts with our trail density guidelines,” Mr. Seaborn said. “As a result, our determination is that these unauthorized trails will be closed, and we will be working to restore them.”
In the nearly two-hour meeting, DCR officials confirmed that Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, which works with the state as a third party forest manager, was responsible for the clearing, but said no civil or criminal penalties would be issued for violations of the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act.
Map showing unpermitted trails (in orange).
Map showing unpermitted trails (in orange).
“We’re not envisioning penalties being a part of the return to compliance plan at this time,” said Jesse Lettick, chief of regulatory compliance at MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage Program.
There was little explanation about why or when the unpermitted trail clearing originally took place, although a timeline presented by DCR said the clearing came to the state’s attention in April 2020. A citation was issued to Sheriff’s Meadow by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program last June, and the state subsequently worked with the land trust to develop a restoration plan. The state conducted site visits between October and December of 2020.
Sheriff’s Meadow executive director Adam Moore confirmed last year that a board member, Michael Berwind, was involved in the trail clearing for mountain biking, and that Mr. Berwind was no longer on the board.
In a written statement issued Friday, Mr. Moore said Sheriff's Meadow valued the state forest and took permitting requirements and relationships with partner organizations very seriously.
“Over the years, we worked cooperatively, in close communication and in good faith, on a volunteer basis with DCR at the local level on trail work in the forest,” Mr. Moore wrote. “If we had known that the trail work did not have the proper NHESP permit or follow the proper DCR procedure, we would not have undertaken the work.”
“We are working very hard with Natural Heritage and DCR to reach an agreement, complete mitigation and any restoration, and return to compliance,” he added.
Sheriff’s Meadow will pay for the restoration plan, state officials also said Thursday, as part of the citation from Natural Heritage, which acts as the compliance authority for state forest and trail management. No monetary figure was provided.
“The bulk of the cost is actually going to be borne by the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation as part of their non-compliance,” Mr. Seaborn said.
The 5,000-acre forest that sits atop the Island’s sole source aquifer is one of the top three forests in the state when it comes to biodiversity, DCR officials said — home to everything from rare buck moths, migrating warblers, the Eastern whippoorwill and unique ecological features known as frost pockets.
State forest covers 5,000 aces in the center of the Island, including priority habitat and sole source aquifer protection.
State forest covers 5,000 aces in the center of the Island, including priority habitat and sole source aquifer protection.
DCR officials said Thursday that the unauthorized clearing increased trail coverage in the state forest by 35 per cent, from 72 miles to 97, raising trail density from moderate to high, while the stated goal is to keep the density low. The majority of the pre-existing trails are fire trails, they said.
Mr. Seaborn said the state used the unpermitted trails as an opportunity to take a fresh look at its entire, holistic management of the state forest, essentially reviewing the trail network retroactively.
As part of that broader review, DCR determined that there were also approximately three miles of authorized trails that were underused, redundant, or poorly sited that would be closed down as well. State officials said they would retain about four miles of unpermitted trails that promoted the goals of increasing connectivity throughout the state forest.
The state plans to close parts of the red path in the south part of the forest west of the airport, and the purple path just north of it. Parts of the unpermitted trails named Twisty and Fantasy will remain.
“A group of us . . . went out and started doing some ground-truthing,” said DCR ecologist Alexandra Echaldi. “From all of that analysis, we determined that certain DCR trails that were poorly sited . . . or went through some significant habitat, could be removed from the trail map and also restored to pre-existing conditions.”
After the presentation, officials answered a flurry of questions from prominent Island biologists and other stakeholders, including ecologist David Foster, Edgartown conservation agent Jane Varkonda, Martha’s Vineyard Commission senior planner Bill Veno and former DCR staffer Dorothy Zug.
The forest has seen turnover in its superintendent in recent years and has been without a full-time superintendent since Chris Bruno left in March 2020. In January the state named Connor Laffey as the new full-time superintendent, who will commute to the Island from Falmouth.
On Thursday DCR officials pointed to the hire as a first step in ensuring that forest is closely monitored. In addition to the full-time superintendent, two summer staffers have been hired, and the state will retain forest firefighter Karen Lothrop, who has been commuting part-time from the Cape.
Susan Kane, DCR south regional director, said the agency is committed to supporting Mr. Laffey in management of the forest.
“Although he is alone out there right now . . . it’s my commitment to support him in a much bigger way than maybe this position was supported in the past,” she said.
Concerned residents peppered officials with questions, from fire safety to how the state plans to use a vacant house on state forest property. A handful of people pushed back against the decision to close the trails, but the vast majority of public comment centered on forest management, how 25 miles of trails could have been cleared without the agency’s knowledge, and what could be done to prevent it in the future.
DCR officials said they regretted the clearing and announced a five-year monitoring program with Sheriff’s Meadow to restore the trails.
The long-term impacts of the trail clearing remained unknown.
“There were definitely immediate impacts,” Mr. Seaborn said. “Long-term . . . we will be monitoring that very question.”
The meeting and restoration plan will be available for viewing and public comment on the state website.
Comments
Too many of the biker
MD BostonToo many of the biker comments here do sound like they believe their recreation is more important than all the reasons the forest was laid out as it is. On the other hand, the bikers are tame compared to the self entitlement of the off-leash dog walkers!
The endangered species in
MVMtbker Vineyard HavenThe endangered species in question is a grey moth. Seems like it’s the State Forrest’s version of the Plover. Seems to me people should be a little higher on the list of reasons to have a few more trails in the Forrest. And while there are lots of great trials, some of the new ones are great as well and it seems worth keeping. And we have plenty of moths on this island - billions I would imagine, and they do a lot of damage.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metarranthis_apiciaria
What the State Forest calls
Greg EdgartownWhat the State Forest calls trails are straight, wide fire breaks that are more like roads than trails. The trails that have been created by volunteers are created to give people a way to enjoy this amazing resource that we share. I much prefer the new trails to the fire breaks that you can drive a fire truck down.
If you prefer that experience
MTBer Oak BluffsIf you prefer that experience than ask for it the right way.
What don't you mountain bikers understand? There is a right way and wrong way to get trails, you all picked the wrong way.
Keep heading down that path and you may loose even more trails.
What you call volunteer I
LeeWhat you call volunteer I call criminal.
I agree with you, Greg.
EmilyI agree with you, Greg.
While I do not live on the
Confused Mountain Biker Cape CodWhile I do not live on the island I am very confused. There is literally zero evidence any of this was done with permission or through the right channels. So why are so many mountain bikers and trail users upset? We as mountain bikers have had to fight hard for trails, and it is actions like these that make that fight even harder! If I was a local I would be very upset this character did this and made everyone look bad. Judging by social media the mountain bikers feel no remorse over this and do not even understand what happened. My advice to you island mountain bikers? Stay off the trails and keep quiet, maybe in 5 or 10 years you regain the community's trust and have new/better trails....
Reading the article and
long time biker off islandReading the article and comments I have several thoughts, first of which is most people donate land to conservation for the recreation and enjoyment of people. I have respect for forest and species, frequently a tiny percentage of conservation lands are used to make up trails. Who is to determine what the best use for this land is. I would suspect that very few people donated their land for the sole purpose of protecting the tree frog. I personally have not been down the alleged trails, but trails are typically paths through the woods built purely by using not by cutting trees or excavating soils. The whole thing sounds like just another over reach of government trying to control our every move.
My grandparents and parents
T Bone Oak BluffsMy grandparents and parents have donated hundreds of acres over the last 50 years. "Most" people don't donate conservation land to have it destroyed by recreational seeking humans. My granddad was clear with his intentions -- he donated the land to keep parts of this island the way it used to be -- untouched by humans. I would be a very rich man if he'd left me some of that land he donated. But I am proud of the legacy he left to all of us. He would be quite angry if he knew dirt bikers were careening through his gift of nature.
The state forest wasn't
Katherine Scott TisburyThe state forest wasn't "donated" by anyone.
It belongs to the state.
That is why it is called the state forest.@@
It performs a number of functions and "services" to our community and the earth, such as providing habitat, filtering water into our aquifer, providing habitat for animals and plants some of which are rare or endangered, etc. It is not there just for bikers. @@ Please do try to see the bigger picture.
I have no problem with
Ken Edg.I have no problem with temporary trails to help people during the pandemic. We are talking bicycles not motorized bikes. Proper permitting would take years, the pandemic came on us all of a sudden. Im all for getting people out of their homes sitting around waiting to die.
Ken: There are plenty of
Katherine Scott TisburyKen: There are plenty of places for people to take walks on lovely trails on Martha's Vineyard. Thbey are not crowded. Generally I encounter very few people on these trails. There is plenty of room for you and your family, and your leashed pets. @@@
The closing of illegal trails in the State Forest and the curtailing of some mountain biking is a great opportunity for you to explain to your children why: the health of all depends on biodiversity and the survival of many species unknown and even invisible to us. Humans do not have the right to disturb everything and everyone, especially when there are plenty of other places they can take a walk. I'm quite sure your children will "get" this. @@I am glad that the DCR is making Sheriff's Meadow do the restoration and also pay for it. Still, questions remain. Basically, the buck stops at the top, exec director and the board of directors. How can these environmental "stewards" have been so clueless? Would love to see the internal correspondence relating to this.
Before Berwind and his
Bill McCarthy EdgartownBefore Berwind and his confederates constructed these many miles of single-use bike trails (having just walked seven crooked miles of them--all in the eastern quadrant of the forest--I can attest to how confounding and annoying the endless meandering and looping and zig-zagging of these trails is—how utterly uncongenial they are to walking), all of us (hikers, bikers, horse riders) shared forest trails equally and respectfully: pedestrians yielded to horses, and bikers yielded to pedestrians and horses—that’s the ethos that’s posted on forest signage, and it’s one that has served us very well for a very long time.
Berwind’s meandering "snake river” of mountain bike trails controverted this communitarian spirit and created a kind of "class system” out in the woods. The eastern third of the forest became a Disney-themed bike park with theme park signage: Twisty, Explorer, Tunnel, Log Jam, etc.. (Such nomenclature is an injury to poetry, no less than than the trails themselves are injuries to the land, and should be replaced by one less invasive of the imagination.)
These days, I walk the trails more often than I bike them, but I still bike the forest quite a bit and am happy to share the trails with other bikers and hikers and horse riders. In twenty years of sometimes daily use, I have discerned neither a lack of trails nor a necessity for new trails. As restoration gets underway, there are still plenty of trails to bike out there; we'll just need to share them in an egalitarian spirit.
Good on them. It is clear
B CambridgeGood on them. It is clear that the paths may provide some utility and more space for folks, but providing LARGE uninterrupted space for species is paramount and necessary. Enjoy all of the paths that already do exist.
These comments show how
Jonathan K.These comments show how selfish we are as people. Only thinking about ourselves and how much we can take advantage of the ecosystem. Return it back to the natural habitat. Mountain bikes, joggers and household pets are not part of the natural habitat, they are parasites living on the expense of this habitat.
So if the DCR is so concerned
Don Pesh Oak BluffsSo if the DCR is so concerned about their precious moths and “rare species” how could they not have known 25 miles of trails was being cut into their habitat? I think the rare species and moths would cohabitate nicely with the awesome trails, that we will never get to enjoy.
Indeed! The forrest should
L. A. Langley Oak BluffsIndeed! The forrest should never have been cut... Over the last 30 years, I was always walking on the fire roads. When the manicured and signed paths came in I was actually heartbroken. For me, was just another example of the frittering away of the best parts of the island... yes an untouched state forrest with some sweet, organic walking trails is one of our greatest assets. If the "preservation" entities like Sheriffs Meadow and the Land Bank have it there way, they will manicure and preserve the very essence of the island all away!... STOP making the island "better", it was just great before your committees made all these bad decisions. What a sad situation. In our lifetime it will not be back to what it was, and not for for hundreds of years! Maybe with all the monies Sheriffs Meadow has they can create a forrest education and educate there board members on why you don't create paths, without permission, in a natural habitat.
I hope it was clear in the
Regular Bike RiderI hope it was clear in the presentation that no electric bikes are allowed. I see ebikes in the SF all the time. They are also not allowed on Land Bank properties. Folks, keep your eyes open and report these illegal users if you see them.
Please report on what's
Herb Vineyard HavenPlease report on what's happening with the Pavilion that lots of trees from the State Forest had been sawed into Lumber to build. Was the permitting process started to have that built? Where was it supposed to be erected? What is happening with all that lumber now? Is it protected from the weather and insects? You didn't publish my previous 4 comments so I doubt you'll publish any part of this comment, but please look into the Pavillion project.
If any one of us went rogue
Elizabeth Rosen Edgartown and Jupiter FLIf any one of us went rogue and cut trails without going through proper channels and destroyed habitat that was protected, we would face civil and/or criminal charges and be fined. Sheriff Meadow carries Directors and Officers insurance to cover themselves. If their D&O won't pay, why should the rest of us?
If it weren't for the Land
S Scheuer EdgartownIf it weren't for the Land Bank, Sheriff's Meadow, and the Trustees of Reservations, Martha's Vineyard would look like Fire Island, and the only trails would be the streets around the mega-mansions.
Once you walk these trails it
Chris Mara EdgartownOnce you walk these trails it's pretty obvious that there wasn't a plan in the their creation. They snake (literally snake) throughout the State Forest and it's obvious that they were made for mountain bikers...period. Many of these new trails avoid natural changes in topography. In a frustrating way they were cut so close to other parts of the trail that you can literally step right through to the next part of the trail and avoid 1/4-1/2 a miles of useless twists and turns. They were created for bikes not people. Walking trails should follow the natural topography but also balance that with getting you from A to B in a expeditious way. I've walked these new trails many, many times and as others will confirm that I spend a great deal of time complaining about the stupidity of whoever laid these trails out. Please save us from these singular-minded souls with their entitled view.
Your description of the
Nette Flickssen ChilmarkYour description of the trails themselves is very accurate, and such an important point that hasn't gotten much attention. I would add that they were not just created for bikes rather than walkers, but for an aggressive kind of biking that is all about the thrills, and accomplishing the best time on the racetrack. This is why Berwind and his gang created this bike park. It's their faux-wilderness playground/skatepark, not an ordinary trail network.
I am so happy that someone
ginny west tisbryI am so happy that someone finally got on this. These acres are precious. The forest is precious Why must special interests, in this case bikers, be allowed to colonize and change a precious, rare resources for a sport. Leave our island and its resources alone. Let the rare flora and fauna survive. Let them be and breathe in peace.
No one gets to go and cut 25
Geraldine Brooks West TisburyNo one gets to go and cut 25 miles of trail on someone else’s land without permission. How a conservation organization allowed and abetted it is still a bafflement to me. If it’s the bikers today, what interest group will have a whim to cut another 25 miles for something else tomorrow? And what group the day after that? The forest was created to protect an endangered species and maintaining the biodiversity of the island should remain its principle function, while being enjoyed by many on the plentiful existing trails. In any case, obey the law, people. It’s that simple.
During the zoom meeting, Eric
Bill McCarthyDuring the zoom meeting, Eric Seaborn said that the DCR planned to keep Twisty, perhaps as a nature trail. But in the same breath, he seemed to suggest that keeping Twisty might be a kind of sop to the biking interests, who are aggrieved at the loss of the vast theme park that these illegal trails established for them in the eastern third of the forest.
As a trail, Twisty wickedly lives up to its name. The zigzags it makes on a map represent single-use, biking-only trails. (Yes, walkers might hike them a number of times, as a novelty or because they are convenient, but after a while, they will begin to groan at the prospect of trudging these mechanical rat-mazes yet again.)
By all means, the State might keep Twisty as a nature trail of some sort, but those egregious zigzags should be ironed out so that the trail can be used by everyone, not just bikers. I would also point out that Twisty’s zig-zagging patterns epitomize the kind of redundancy that the Forest people have elsewhere sought to eliminate in their “full review” of all forest trails. Why then allow a four mile remnant of these vacuum-abhorring bike trails to eat up so much forest terrain?
A kind of chilling thought occurs to me when I contemplate that four miles of Twisty might survive “as is.” The thought is that Michael Berwind won. He hacked up 27 miles of forest trails in order to secure four. Four miles of bike park that wouldn’t have been permitted had he pursued the normal vetting and approval process. Please don’t provide him this victory: use Twisty if you will, but straighten it out so that we all may use it.
I'm quite certain that 99% of
JFE KatamaI'm quite certain that 99% of the trail users (myself included) had no idea they were made without permission. It's an unfortunate situation, as they represented a very enjoyable and not obviously irresponsible source of outdoor recreation. There is no other choice but to comply with the dictates of state regulations. But to assert, as the author does, that the trails disturbed a "sweeping extent" of the forest is to mischaracterize what any reasonable journalist would conclude if he actually surveyed the situation with a responsible level of objectivity. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the approval of none other than the Army of Corps of Engineers (as just one prong of "multi-step" process!) is required to permit a bike path in a state forest, an utterly depressing reminder of the soul-crushing leviathan that is our modern government.
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